Why is it that Santa Clara has plenty of money and always seems to be short of it? Have you noticed we never seem to have enough and when we do have some extra funds, they are redirected to things other than our deteriorating infrastructure?
Even simple things like our city water fountains that went dry during COVID stayed dry for years even after the pandemic. Do you think restoring our water fountains was a monumental engineering phenomenon? No, it is more a reflection of routine priorities being ignored, similar to our International Swim Center that was ignored to the point of closure.
Now we have a much larger issue with one of our most important and productive properties. Levi’s Stadium, which produces millions for our community, is in need of repairs, replacements and updates.
But … we have a mayor that has been feuding and fighting our stadium ever since it was built. Rather than promote a property that preserves our powerful place with a pragmatic plan of polish and paint, she has poo-pooed our stadium as a non-priority.
This mega-million-dollar-producing property is now in need of updates, repairs, replacements and love. Our stadium has put Santa Clara on the map, made Santa Clara millions and we need to maintain our status, reputation and highly successful events. It’s time to break open the bank account and get these repairs completed now.
City staff and council are considering construction of a new city hall. While it’s a good idea, it doesn’t make any sense to commit tens of millions to a new capital investment before we maintain a major revenue machine.
Our city council should prioritize what produces ahead of what consumes. While a new city hall would be a pleasure for our hundreds of employees and staff, it will not produce more revenue.
Urge your council representative to keep our stadium in the national limelight and continue producing cash from major attractions. Make the repairs; update our stadium so it continues to attract the world’s biggest events and produce major funds for our city.
Levi’s Stadium is a gift that keeps on giving. However, neglecting this profitable asset will cost the city a snowballing list of lost opportunities.
Santa Clara doesn’t need a billion-dollar albatross.
Previous Milestones:
Milestones – Gillmor’s Power Play – Opinion
Milestones – Late to the Party – Opinion
Milestones – Bullet Train to Wealth Tax? – Opinion
Milestones – You Have to Ask Why? – Opinion